Science & TechnologyGreek → English
Pyrotechnics
/ˌpaɪrəˈtɛknɪks/noun
The making and setting off of fireworks and controlled explosive effects.
The Greek roots
πῦρ
pŷr
fire
τέχνη
téchnē
craft, skill
Literally: “fire craft”
The story of the word
τέχνη is craft, the knowing-how of a carpenter or a surgeon, and it sits inside technology, technique and ἀρχιτέκτων, the chief builder. Pyrotechny appears in English in the sixteenth century for the whole art of working with fire, gunnery and metallurgy included, and only later narrowed to displays. The show trade grew straight out of the ordnance trade, the same gunners mixing the same powders for a siege and for a royal wedding.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → New Latin → English
Same family
pyrepyromaniatechnologytechniquearchitect
In a sentence
The pyrotechnics licence took longer to get than the venue.
Act three ends in pyrotechnics, which is one reason the insurance costs what it does.